1 Samuel 1:8

1:8 Finally her husband Elkanah said to her, “Hannah, why do you weep and not eat? Why are you so sad? ¹  Am I not better to you than ten ²  sons?”

1 Samuel 4:3

4:3 When the army ³  came back to the camp, the elders of Israel said, “Why did the Lord let us be defeated today by ⁴  the Philistines? Let’s take with us the ark of the covenant of the Lord from Shiloh. When it is with us, it will save us ⁵  from the hand of our enemies.

1 Samuel 6:3

6:3 They replied, “If you are going to send the ark of ⁶  the God of Israel back, don’t send it away empty. Be sure to return it with a guilt offering. Then you will be healed, and you will understand why his hand is not removed from you.”

1 Samuel 17:8

17:8 Goliath ⁷  stood and called to Israel’s troops, ⁸  “Why do you come out to prepare for battle? Am I not the Philistine, and are you not the servants of Saul? Choose ⁹  for yourselves a man so he may come down ¹⁰  to me!

1 Samuel 20:8

20:8 You must be loyal ¹¹  to your servant, for you have made a covenant with your servant in the Lord’s name. ¹²  If I am guilty, ¹³  you yourself kill me! Why bother taking me to your father?”

1 Samuel 22:13

22:13 Saul said to him, “Why have you conspired against me, you and this son of Jesse? You gave ¹⁴  him bread and a sword and inquired of God on his behalf, so that he opposes ¹⁵  me and waits in ambush, as is the case today!”

¹ tn Heb “why is your heart displeased?”

² sn Like the number seven, the number ten is sometimes used in the OT as an ideal number (see, for example, Dan 1:20, Zech 8:23).

³ tn Or “people.”

⁴ tn Heb “before.”

⁵ tn Heb “and it will come in our midst and it will save.” After the cohortative (see “let’s take”), the prefixed verbal forms with the prefixed conjunction indicate purpose or result. The translation understands the ark to be the subject of the third masculine singular verbs, although it is possible to understand the Lord as the subject. In the latter case, one should translate, “when he is with us, he will save us.”

⁵ tc The LXX and a Qumran ms add “the covenant of the Lord.”

⁷ tn Heb “he”; the referent (Goliath) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

⁸ tn The Hebrew text adds “and said to them.”

⁹ tc The translation follows the ancient versions in reading “choose,” (from the root בחר, bkhr), rather than the MT. The verb in MT (ברה, brh) elsewhere means “to eat food”; the sense of “to choose,” required here by the context, is not attested for this root. The MT apparently reflects an early scribal error.

¹⁰ tn Following the imperative, the prefixed verbal form (either an imperfect or jussive) with the prefixed conjunction indicates purpose/result here.

⁹ tn Heb “and you must do loyalty.”

¹⁰ tn Heb “for into a covenant of the Lord you have brought your servant with you.”

¹¹ tn Heb “and if there is in me guilt.”

¹¹ tn Heb “by giving.”

¹² tn Heb “rises up against.”